Noel Grealish (Galway West, Progressive Democrats)

I acknowledge the significant investment the Government has made in infrastructural projects around the country in recent years. One only needs to drive out of Dublin to see all the work that is under way. I was in Laois yesterday and was amazed by all the work being done. Unfortunately, all the work that has been done leads out of Dublin. Since I became a Dáil Deputy for Galway West in 2002 there has only been one project, the Loughrea bypass at a cost of €25 million.

The National Roads Authority, when it draws up its programme of infrastructural projects, must adopt a more balanced approach. The west has been severely starved of investment in roads and other infrastructure. For example, there are four or five major projects in Galway, such as the Galway City outer bypass on which there is an ongoing debate as to whether it will be built as a toll road. It might be built more quickly if it was a toll road whereas otherwise it might be delayed by two or three years. Another is the new N17 proposed for the western seaboard corridor but that is not proposed to be built until 2013.

The N6 was proposed four or five years ago and was the subject of a recent oral hearing. I attended the hearing and listened to the debate for a number of days. Some of the objections to the road were absolutely ridiculous. One person drove up from Cork and spent three days objecting to a road linking Galway and Ballinasloe, at a cost of €10,000 per day. The full cost of the oral hearing amounted to between €500,000 and €600,000. I hope vexatious objections will be dealt with in this Bill but it is important that local people have the right to object.

The ESB recently proposed a 110 kV line straight through a small rural area in my constituency, about which nobody knew until I received a telephone call from a journalist who heard about it. The site notice had been posted at the substation where hardly anybody could see it and the planning application was lodged before we even knew about it. There was practically no consultation with the landowners, just a little note shoved in the door notifying them that the project was going ahead. It is not acceptable that such projects are proposed and commenced without sufficient consultation with local people.

I listened to what Deputy Durkan said about the decision-making process relating to infrastructural projects. We hear the little village of Claregalway mentioned every morning on the traffic report on "Morning Ireland". Some 35,000 cars per day travel through the village but the National Roads Authority states it will not go through a CPO process to build a new road. It states the new N17 will alleviate the problem but the new N17 will be approximately 10 km from Claregalway. As public representatives we must attend public meeting after public meeting about the traffic in the village but we have no say in whether a road should be built. Officials of the National Roads Authority will not attend the meetings to explain why they feel a road is not needed. They undertake to meet us as Members of the Oireachtas, in Dáil Éireann, to give us their reasons, leaving us to return to the people in Claregalway to explain the situation to them. That is completely unacceptable because we should have a role in deciding what projects should be built. The people of Claregalway will not put up with the traffic congestion, morning and evening, seven days a week, for much longer. They will block the road, which nobody wants to see happen because the poor motorists on their way to work will suffer. The road is 4.5 km long but there are 27 landowners involved. I call on the National Roads Authority to seriously consider the situation in Claregalway.

The previous speaker referred to the way in which rogue developers operate. Several years ago, I encountered a case in which a developer bought land which effectively left adjoining landowners landlocked at the rear of their lands. When they applied for planning permission, they found they could not gain access to the strip of land blocking the back of their lands. As a result, they were forced to band together to buy out the individual in question at an astronomical price. It is unacceptable that developers can lock landowners in, thus preventing them from developing and making a few bob out of their land.

I hope the introduction of this legislation will speed up major infrastructural projects. The N6 from Ballinasloe to Galway, for example, will provide a much-needed road into the city and I hope it and the N18, a vital project to link Galway with Shannon, will proceed. Galway is one of the fastest growing cities in Europe and has done exceptionally well under the Government. I compliment it on the large number of jobs created in the city in recent years. Unfortunately, however, Galway is falling behind in terms of the investment needed in infrastructure projects.

Last week, I wrote to the Taoiseach regarding his planned visit to Galway next week when he will open the Marine Institute, one of the welcome success stories of the decentralisation programme. I am disappointed he was unable — the reason given was his busy schedule — to accede to my request to meet representatives of the community of Claregalway to discuss the prospect of proceeding with the bypass of the town.

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